Houma residents welcome police substation

Monday

Jan 14, 2013 at 11:03 AM

Residents of east Houma said they're relieved to be getting a police substation, but some question the location.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

Residents of east Houma said they're relieved to be getting a police substation, but some question the location. The substation, to be headquartered on Senator Street at the entrance of Senator Circle, will occupy two renovated apartments. Senator Circle is a complex made up of about 200 apartments for low-income tenants. There are about 150 people on the agency's waiting list.East Houma resident Floyd Netter said the substation will help a lot. “The thing about it is it's going to keep that area clear, and when people come here they won't have nothing to fear about it,” he said. “With youngsters today, the way they're carrying on, if you got police in the area it'd be much better.” The area could use a substation, but not at Senator Circle, said Houma resident Cornell Robinson, owner of the New Blue Diamond Club on East Main Street.“They don't need to put that substation there,” he said. “There's no more crime in Senator Circle. All the crime is on East Street.”In 2011, parish authorities purchased land in a field near East Street and Grand Caillou Road to build a substation for $40,000. But Parish Council members said the parish lacks money to construct the building. A patron at the Blue Diamond, who refused to give a name, said more police in the area will lead to more harassment.“As long as you're acting right, they don't bother you,” Robinson interjected. “If you're doing something wrong, then yeah, they'll get ya.”Terrebonne's first substation is aimed at ensuring a 24/7 police presence at Senator Circle and surrounding sections of east Houma — long-deemed a high-crime area.Other than utilities and insurance costs, the Houma Police Department will not be charged for using the apartments. Police officials said the facility will provide space for staff to conduct meetings and interviews. People under arrest will not be brought to the substation. Well aware of problems such as drugs and shootings that cause the neighborhood's bad reputation, Joe Thompson, head of the Mechanicville Weed and Seed Program, said there have been improvements. He said he wants the younger generation to work toward changing the community's reputation.As part of that goal, Weed and Seed has joined forces with the Mechanicville Neighborhood Watch Group to step up its efforts, which he said have made a huge impact. “It was bad. Now we got residents who can now come out and walk on the streets. At one time they couldn't do that.” Thompson, who has lived in the community for 47 years, has been acting as one of the sole community officers patrolling the area. “We used to have two community officers back here,” he said. “But now I do all of it. It's just the passion I have — to serve the public and try to keep people safe.”On a map, the target area takes the form of a square: From the corner of Howard Avenue and East Main Street, to the corner of East Main Street and Prospect Boulevard, to the corner of Prospect Boulevard and Grand Caillou Road and to the corner of Grand Caillou Road and Howard Avenue. Thompson said it's a great community with decent people; however, a few bad apples can cause a lot of continuous problems.“It's a cycle,” Thompson said. “The amazing thing is, they'll go five to 10 years drug free, get out and go right back to standing on these corners and get hooked back on crack or whatever, and they go try and sell it and use it. And it's like, ‘How did you go that long without doing it and then go right back to it?' But they come back into the same environment.” Even though Thompson agrees that crime has been reduced in Senator Circle, he maintains it doesn't really matter where the substation is located just as long as it brings more police presence into the area.“We aren't crime-free; we still have some issues,” he said. “We're going to have a community police officer and a truancy officer,” which Thompson has been taking on himself. “I'm relieved to get some extra help.”

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